Apparatus for applying closures



/ Oct. 17, 1944 RHE' JOHNSON ETAL 2,360,423

APPARATUS FOR APPLYING CLOSURES Filed March 24, 1943 2 Sheets-Sheet lTTORNEYS Oct. 17, 1944. v

R. E. JOHNSON ETAL PARATUS FOR APPLYING CLOSURES Filed March 24, 1945 2Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORS Patented Oct. 17, 1944 ,UNITED STATES PATENTOFFICE Roy E. Johnson, Bronxville, and Anders Gustav Anderson, Brooklyn,N. Y., assignors to Arenco Machine Company, Incorporated, New York, N.Y., a corporation of New York Application March 24, 1943, Serial No.480,272

2 Claims.

Our invention relates to apparatus for applying closures to containersand more particularly to apparatus for applying resilient stoppers ofnubber or like material to cylindrical vials. Such stoppers are commonlymade of larger diameter than the inside of the mouth of the vial and aredifficult to insert into the vial.

It is an object of our improvement to provide apparatus whereby suchclosures may be easily applied to the vials.

Other objects, features and advantages of our invention will appear morefully from the following specification and appended drawings.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of one embodiment of our invention;

Fig. 2 is a plan view thereof;

Fig. 3 is an longitudinal sectional view of the vial and a sideelevation of the stopper before the same is applied to the vial;

Fig. 4 is a longitudinal sectional view of the vial with the stopperapplied thereto;

Fig. 5 is a view partially in section and partly in elevation of theapparatus shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 6 is a similar view of the lower part of the apparatus shown inFig. 5 with some of the parts in difierent positions;

Fig. '7 is a cross sectional view on line l''! of Fig. 5;

Fig. 8 is a view in elevation of the lower part of the apparatus shownin Fig, 5; and

Fig. 9 is a sectional view on line 99 of Fig. 5.

Referring to Fig. 4, the container is shown as a glass vial a having acylindrical side wall. The stopper b, which may be made of rubber orother resilient material, has a cylindrical body portion and a head bproviding a flange extending at right angles to the body portion. Formedin the lower portion of the body of the stopper is a recess b To insurea tight grip of the stopper within the vial, the body portion of thestopper is made of slightly larger diameter than the inside of the vial.This is particularly important when the contents of the vial emits gasso as to form a gas pressure inside the vial.

Referring to Figs. 1, 2 and 5, the apparatus shown therein includes acylindrical casing I which is supported from a base 2 by a bracket 3.The casing I is provided near its lower portion with a lateral openingor passage 4 through which the closures are fed. At the bottom of thecasing is a tapered cage 5 which, as more clearly shown in Figs. 5, 6and 8, is formed of longitudinally arranged resilient rods or prongs 6of steel or other suitable material. The rods or prongs are embedded inthe casing I at the upper end and are free at their lower ends to moveoutwardly with'respect to each other. The taper of the cage is such thatthe stoppers or closures b are adapted to drop into the upper part ofthe cage until they are contacted around their peripheries by the rodsor prongs.

Within the casing I is a plunger 1 which is movable longitudinally bysuitable means such as the handle 8. The lower end of the plunger isadapted to engage the top of a closure to force the closure into thelower portion of the cage and thereafter to eject the closure from thecage and apply the same to a container. The plunger is preferablyprovided with a shoulder 9 which engages a shoulder in the case I asshown in Fig. 6 to limit the downward movement of the plunger to aposition corresponding with the proper extent of insertion of theclosure within the container.

In shifting the closure, it is desirable first to move the same rapidlydownward to a position protruding slightly from the cage whereby theextreme end of the closure is held in a position for easy insertion intothe mouth of the container preliminary to the full insertion of theclosure. For the latter operation of closure should be moved at a slowerrate. To achieve this end, we provide means whereby the plunger may beconveniently shifted first relatively rapidly and then more slowly. Tothis end, the casing I is formed with a guide slot ID for handle 8. Theslot is provided with an upper portion Illa arranged parallel to theaxis of the plunger and a lower portion IOb arranged at an angle to theaxis of the plunger. The wall of portion IOb of the guide slot tends toarrest the handle 8 at the end of the portion Illa of the slot andthereby provides means for retarding the plunger and controlling themovement of the plunger 50 that the operator may readily shift from thefaster to the slower speed referred to during the movement of the handlethrough the portion lb of the guide slot, the plunger rotates about itsaxis.

The closures are fed to the passage 4 by suitable means which, as shown,comprise a pair of parallel spaced tracks I I, inclined at an angle tothe horizontal. These tracks are arranged to be contacted by theundersides of the flanges at the heads of the closures, while the bodiesof the closures are arranged between the tracks. This constructionpermits the closures to slide easily by gravity into the opening orpassage 4 in casing I.

In operation, the closures are fed by gravity along tracks ll into theopening 4 of easing I. When the plunger 1 is retracted to its uppermost,position, one of the closures enters the cylindrical inner portion I ofthe casing and drops from there by gravity into the cage 5 with the rodsor prongs of the cage engaging the periphery of the closure. The handle8 is now moved through the portion Illa of the guide so that the plungerengages the upper surface of the closure and forces the latter to theposition shown in Fig. 5 with its lower end protruding slightly from thelower end of the cage. In the latter portion of this movement of theplunger and closure, the closure forces the rods or prongs of the cageapart at their lower ends and the rods or prongs compress the closure toreduce the size of the lower end thereof so that it may be readilyinserted into the container.

The closure is fixedly held, as by jaws, by the rods or prongs. Also,the spaced rods or prongs permit portions of the closure between them toextend outwardly slightly between the rods or prongs, as shown at l2 inFigs. 8 and 9, whereby rotation of the closure within the cage isprevented. This facilitates relative rotary movement between the closureand the container, thereby assisting insertion of the closure into thecontainer. With the closure in the position shown in Fig. 5, a containerat is applied to the closure and the tip portion of the closure isinserted into the mouth of the container. The handle 8 is then movedslowly along the inclined lower portion lflb of the guide groove toforce the closure home into the container, which is rotated tofacilitate the insertion of the closure.

While we have shown one embodiment of our invention, it is to beunderstood that changes within the appended claims may be made withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the invention.

We claim:

1. Closure applying apparatus comprising a tapered cage for supporting aclosure, comprising spaced resilient rods free to move outwardly at thesmaller end of the cage, a plunger for advancing a closure in theholder, means for shifting the plunger, and means for guiding themovement of said shifting means first in a direction longitudinally ofthe plunger and then at an angle to the axis of the plunger.

2. Apparatus for applying headed closures to containers comprising atapered cage for supporting a closure comprising spaced resilient rodsarranged to engage the periphery of a closure but free to move outwardlyat the smaller end of the cage, means for feeding the closuressuccessively to the cage, said means comprising spaced tracks arrangedto support the heads of the closures with the bodies of the closuresbetween the tracks, a plunger for advancing the closure in the holder,means for shifting the plunger, and means for confining the movement ofsaid shifting means first to a direction longitudinally of the plungerand then at an angle to the axis of the plunger, the plunger beingprovided with means to limit the advance thereof.

ROY E. JOHNSON. ANDERS GUSTAV ANDERSON.

